Thursday, August 30, 2018

Ten Stages That All Homebuyers Go Through When Looking For Their Dream Home!

Buying a house is stressful and exciting in equal measures, and as a first time buyer there are lots of things that you’ll come up against that you probably didn’t expect. Here are ten stages that most people go through in the quest for buying their dream home!

Stage one- full of hope

You click onto your property sales website of choice, and have a browse through. So far, so good! There are plenty of options, and from a glance there seems to be a number of properties that could have potential. Seems easy so far, surely this home buying process isn’t as difficult as people make out?

Stage two- reality hits

After adjusting your filters to fit your budget, and narrowing it down to the exact area you want, things look a little less promising. Your selection pool has instantly been made a whole lot smaller, and at closer inspection most of these houses don’t look so good. None of them have all of the ‘must haves’ on your checklist, and very few of them even have any of the things you really want. After a hard think, you decide maybe three bedrooms is better than four anyway, and who really needs an ensuite? Perhaps you could knock down some walls and renovate in a few years time… THEN you’ll have the kitchen of your dreams!

Stage three- is it ever going to happen?

After ruling out every single property as unsuitable, you’re on the house sales websites every single day, not wanting to miss out on any new properties that are added. Within minutes of clicking onto the new ads, you rule those out as unsuitable too. This is at the stage where you really start questioning if it’s ever going to happen. Frustrating times!

Stage four- revisiting previous choices

When you’ve ruled out everything that’s currently available for one reason or another, (including every new property that gets added to the site), you find yourself clicking back onto past choices. Perhaps you were a little harsh the first time around- or maybe you’ve missed something important? Nope, those houses are still as lousy as the first time, each with its own unique issue as to why it’s not the right place for you. Home A doesn’t have a garden, whereas home B does, but it’s in the ‘bad’ side of town. Home C does tick a few boxes but it’s miles away from work and your kids schools. Home D is gorgeous and you’d move in tomorrow if you could- but it’s a hundred thousand out of budget. Yes, at this point you’ve started looking at properties way out of your budget range ‘just to see.’

Stage five- finding the perfect place, but losing out

One day, there is is- the perfect home. Well, maybe not ‘perfect’ but based on what you know you can afford, this one ticks all of the boxes and you just know you could make it work. You go and view it and things go well, and you find yourself picturing life in your new home and doing lots of research about the area. But then comes the kicker. Your mortgage company rejects it for some silly reason, or the house is taken off the market. Perhaps your bid is gazumped by a wealthier buyer which then puts it out of your budget, or a survey shows some sinister problem lurking beneath. It’s devastating when this happens, and you really are back at square one.

Stage six- is this the one?

In time, another house that ticks your boxes of course comes up, and you tentatively go and see it and put in an offer. After being burned with the last house you’re more cautious and worried to get excited, but everything looks like it’s going to go through and you’ve actually found a house you can call home.

Stage seven- the waiting game

As if things hadn’t been frustrating enough up to this point, they’re about to get a whole lot worse. All of the not-so-fun legal stuff is going on behind the scenes; surveys, local searches, conveyancing and mortgage stuff. You’ll be handing over fees all over the place and asking yourself questions like what is stamp duty and why are solicitors so hard to get hold of? Your property has had its status changed online to ‘sold subject to contract’- you know that you’ll be moving into your new place but have no idea when. Chances are your conveyancer doesn’t really know either and is always waiting on this or that to be done, so you’re pretty much in the dark at this point!

Stage eight- full steam ahead

Finally, you get the phone call you’ve been waiting for. Your contracts have been exchanged, and you now have a moving date. In some cases, this can be as short as one week! You go from not knowing when it will happen to everything happening all at once. This can be very overwhelming, but hopefully you’ve made a start on packing and have already started to get things in order at this point. Once you move you’ll need to change all of your bills and utilities over, change address, if you’re renting you’ll need to give your landlord your month’s notice. It’s busy and stressful, but stay organised. Write lists and manage your time effectively. If possible, take some time off work to pack and move things. The day you get your keys is so worth it, after a long and arduous journey you know you’ve finally done it.

Stage nine- a new home, a new chapter

Getting settled into your new home is a task within itself. Once all of your paperwork and formalities have been moved over and everything has been tied up with the home you were living in before, you can start to make it your own. Time to go shopping for paint and homeware!

Stage ten- happily ever after

A new home really does signify a new chapter. It’s a chance to start fresh and do everything right. It might help you to eat better, live a more exciting life, get more organised or even start getting up earlier! Either way, use it to your advantage and enjoy every minute.